Israel Center
P2g
Partnership2gether (P2G) is designed to cultivate people-to-people relationships, projects, and professional programs between Milwaukee and our partner region, Sovev Kinneret, in Israel.
Overview
Partnership2Gether (P2G) is a program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and the Jewish Agency for Israel, designed to cultivate people-to-people relationships, projects, and professional programs between Milwaukee and our partner region, Sovev Kinneret, in Israel. Volunteers from Milwaukee collaborate with their Israeli counterparts on education, cultural exchanges, regional planning, medical care, ecological, and economic development initiatives.
Where is our Partnership region?
The Milwaukee Jewish community is paired with the Sovev Kinneret region in northern Israel. It includes the communities of the city of Tiberias, the Lower Galilee, the Jordan River Valley and Kvar Tavor. We share the partnership region with St. Paul, MN.
P2G Programs
Shin Shinim
The annual young emissary program brings 18-year-olds from the Sovev Kinneret region to Milwaukee to spend a pre-army year doing volunteer service abroad, a “Sh’nat Sherut” organized in cooperation with the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Ya’ad Delegations
YA’AD is a young leaders development program in our P2G region (Sovev Kinneret) in Israel. The George Weinstein Fellowship is Milwaukee’s leadership development equivalent. The two communities of young leaders meet both in Israel and in Milwaukee to learn from each other and create people-to-people connections. The YA’AD/Weinstein partnership was recognized with an award of excellence at the International P2G Conference in 2011.
Professional Exchanges
This program creates the opportunity to host a professional delegation from the region for a week during each calendar year. Most of our professional exchange work has been hosting Israelis from the Sovev Kinneret Region to the cluster communities (Milwaukee and St. Paul). Each community decides what type of delegation will help them meet their local goals.
CONNECT
Tziporah (Tzipi) Altman-Shafer is the Vice President of Jewish Communal Life and Learning. She is responsible for overseeing the Israel Center. She works with lay leaders in determining all Israel and Overseas allocations for Federation. Her responsibilities include directing the Coalition for Jewish Learning, providing support to all our local Jewish schools and educators, and overseeing the Planning Department, which is responsible for all local allocations.
Tzipi grew up in Milwaukee and has been working in Jewish Education since 1987. She has a bachelor’s degree in Jewish Studies and Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a master’s degree in Jewish Education from the Cleveland College of Jewish Studies. Before coming to MJF in 2015, she worked at summer camps, supplementary schools, and day schools (including six schools in Milwaukee). She has been a teacher, a family educator, and director of education and worked with children of all ages.
Noa was born in Tiberias and spent most of her childhood in Ofra, a small Orthodox-Zionist community in northern Jerusalem. After graduating from high school, she fulfilled her Civil service by tutoring at-risk youth in general studies. During these two years she began exploring secularism. After finishing her service, she spent seven summers at Camp Ramah in upstate New York as a Shlicha. She specialized as a Hebrew Teacher and oversaw the Israeli staff and programs at the camp.
She attended Kibbutzim College in Tel Aviv, graduating with both a degree in education and a teacher certificate. She went on to get her master’s degree in Jewish studies from Schechter Institute in Jerusalem. While attending college, Noa worked for Masa program in Tel Aviv, BINA (The secular Yeshiva), and “Momentum – Lahayalim BeAhava” (a nonprofit that prepares soldiers for civilian life, right before the end of their military service.) For seven years Noa worked as a high school history and citizenship studies teacher. For the past 4 years, she worked for the Ministry of Education as an Educational Coordinator, guiding educational staff working with at-risk youth.
Noa married Liran during the summer of 2014. They came to Milwaukee with their two daughters Rona and Lihi and their dog Chika. Noa enjoys reading all genres, watching Israeli films and TV, jogging and Pilates.
